IMHO the best place to chat with other NANOGers would be... this mailing-list. Moderated, scriptkiddie-less, no would-be-hackers, mostly on-topic subjects. IRC has become a place for children and teenagers willing to raise their egos' stamina.
Easy. Tightly and carefully wrap between between 3 feet foot to 1m of fiber around a crystal ball, degree of cloudiness is irrelevant as long as not completely opaque, illuminate by indicator lights of routing gear of choice, voila. Reverse winding depending on hemisphere. Tune length of fiber and grade of fiber to suit communication needs. Works like a champ.
Perhaps we need to teach a tutorial on this during a BOF at the next meeting.